


waking up at midnight

by serendipitiness



Series: ficlet instruments [2]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Childhood Memories, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Sad Magnus Bane, Supportive Alec Lightwood, Week 7: Underwater Meeting, uses events from magnus' childhood in the books
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-10-04 15:30:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20473328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serendipitiness/pseuds/serendipitiness
Summary: No matter how much time goes by, Magnus will never forget the river, the man who pushed him in, and the man who's with him now.





	waking up at midnight

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [sh_ficletinstruments](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/sh_ficletinstruments) collection. 

> **Prompt:**
> 
> Painting by Ian Rayer Smith.

Water swirls over his head.

It’s cold and gritty with silt that rushes into his nose. The rough hand clawed into his shaggy hair pushes and pulls, shoving him underneath again and again. His attempts at twisting away fail -- he’s too light, too small, too scared. He doesn’t know how to fight.

“Demon!” he hears in those moments when he manages to breach the surface. His stepfather's voice is loud and grating. “Abomination, monster, murderer!”

_ No _ , he wants to say.  _ I'm sorry. I’m sorry, Mama. _

But no words can slip from his mouth when there's a river in there instead, filling his lungs. He thinks he’s crying, but he can’t be sure, not when any tears of his are disappearing into the water. He can’t breathe, he’s going to die, he misses her, he's going to  _ die _ .

And then the vicious hands on him soften.

The grip on his hair curls around his cheek instead, and another hand strokes his back between his shoulder blades. Even the water changes; it stops churning, and feels cool and soothing on his skin instead.

Slowly, fearfully, he opens his eyes.

He doesn’t understand the sight before him: there’s a man, vaguely familiar, arms wrapped around him, gaze concerned, dark hair floating softly in the water.

"Are you okay?" the man asks. His voice is rough, quiet, curled around the edges. Bubbles burble from his lips, skimming his nose and arch of a scarred brow --

Magnus gasps.

"Hey, hey," he hears whispered against his ear. "I've got you."

"Alexander," he says with a shudder, and sinks himself into Alec's hold. Sweat is slick on his skin, his breath still ragged in his chest. Beneath him, he can feel their silk sheets under him and next to him, the heat of Alec’s body so close to his.

“Are you okay?" Alec prompts again, and Magnus relaxes further knowing that he’s hearing the question in a much better reality this time, when it’s not embedded in the worst of Magnus' infinite memories.

"A bad dream," he answers simply.

Even in the darkness, he can see the grim twist in Alec's expression. "Magnus," Alec chides, and shifts forward. He lays a lingering kiss on Magnus’ mouth, chaste and reassuring, before pulling away until just their foreheads are touching. “I won’t force it. But don’t forget that you can tell me whatever’s on your mind, good or bad. I’m here for you, in every way I can be.”

“I know,” Magnus murmurs, unspeakably grateful. He marvels, not for the first time, at how remarkable his husband his, how generous and kind he is with Magnus and all his complexities. “I’ll tell you about it in the morning? I -- I think I just want to go back to sleep for now.”

Alec nods and smiles into the darkness. “Whenever you want. I’ll be here the whole time.”

Magnus buries his face into Alec's shoulder. His heart stutters in his chest as he opens his mouth to say, “Thank you.”


End file.
